Is all the rain making you feel like a prisoner in your own historically notable home? Well, March 16th is the first day of the bacchanalia, so why dontcha make like Bacchus and get all ecstatic and inebriated at our celebration of smarts, obsession, and the surprising complexity of our world. The librarius and grilled-cheeseus cults will initiate you into their ways, wine and music will flow, and a scientist, an attorney, and an architectural historian will spark off the intellectual revelry. Be there and be square!

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“A Walk Through the Stem Cellar: Sampling the Many Different Flavors and Vintages of Stem Cells” by Dr. Julie Mangada

Take a tour of the Stem Cellar with the Buck Institute for Research on Aging as your guide! Stem cell breakthroughs lead to a better understanding of cancer and to the development of therapies for Parkinson’s disease. Julie will take you through an exploration of the different types of stem cells, along with the myths and misconceptions of stem cell research.

Dr. Julie Mangada is the Education Outreach Coordinator for the Buck Institute and a local girl originally from Petaluma. Also roller derby addict, Julie is passionate about bringing research out of the lab and into the communities where she grew up, usually while wearing skates and elbow pads.

The Parthenon, the Cliff Palace of Mesa Verde, the Paramount Theatre of Oakland–there’s no question these are important structures, design-wise. But architectural historians aren’t just interested in how they were built, they care about who lived in and used them, too. Find out how architectural history factors into California’s city planning, the basics of evaluating buildings for historic significance, and how fame, murder, and particle accelerators figure into all of this.

Christina is an architectural historian in San Francisco. During her free time, she is a photographer and inadvertent tour guide, spouting historical trivia to anyone who happens to accompany her around the city.

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“Bodies and Bondage: History of California’s Prisons” by Jared Rudolph

California’s prison system started as a privately-run barge anchored in the Bay, and was embroiled in corruption, political scandal, and violence. Since then, our system has grown to incarcerate more people than the population of Berkeley. Prisons represent the power of the state in its most raw and basic form, and 165 years later Californians are still confronting the same fundamental questions: Why do we incarcerate people, what happens when they leave, and can we do better?

Jared Rudolph is a criminal defense attorney and the founder of Prisoner Reentry Network (prisonerreentrynetwork.org), a non-profit that supports successful transitions from incarceration to the community. If you’re arrested, he suggests you shut up so you don’t talk yourself into prison.